Evangelical coalition sees opportunity for immigration reform

A broad coalition of evangelical Christian organizations is quickly taking advantage of an apparent move toward immigration reform in Washington and has called on the president and Congress to begin tackling the issue in 92 days.

A broad coalition of evangelical Christian organizations is quickly taking advantage of an apparent move toward immigration reform in Washington and has called on the president and Congress to begin tackling the issue in 92 days.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A broad coalition of evangelical leaders, seeing a political opportunity to address immigration on the federal level, on Tuesday renewed its call for President Obama and Congress to begin tackling the historically divisive issue within the first three months of next year.

Letters from the Evangelical Immigration Table have been sent to Obama and House and Senate leadership requesting meetings between the lawmakers and the group's leaders and urging them to introduce legislation within the first 92 days of Obama's second term. The timeline is in reference to the number of times "ger," the Hebrew word for stranger or immigrant, appears in the Bible.

The time frame also underscores the approach religious organizations take on immigration, which isn't always political.

"For us it's not most about politics, it's most about Bible teaching and relationships," said Leith Anderson, president of the National Association of Evangelicals and one of the principals of the coalition, which is comprised of liberal, conservative and Latino leaders of the national evangelical community.

The Bible teaches how people should treat their neighbors and "newcomers to the land," he said, and evangelicals interact with immigrants at church, in schools and in the immigrants' native countries where missionaries have worked for generations.

The Evangelical Immigration Table's announcement follows calls from other business and political groups since last week's election for the president and Congress to reach a bipartisan solution to immigration. The letters are the evangelical group's second attempt this year to put immigration on Congress' radar.

Since Election Day, however, a political window has opened that influenced the trio of letters the Evangelical Immigration Table sent out Tuesday.

Last week, House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, urged Obama to take the lead in coming up with a plan that would look at both improved enforcement of immigration law and the future of the estimated 11 million people living in the country illegally.

Over the weekend, Democrat Chuck Schumer of New York and Republican Lindsey Graham of South Carolina also disclosed they have resumed talks on immigration policy that broke off two years ago and have put together an immigration reform blueprint that has "the real potential for bipartisan support based on the theory that most Americans are for legal immigration, but very much against illegal immigration."

Anderson said those comments show "the political momentum is moving toward immigration reform."

In their letters, the Evangelical Immigration Table asks that the bipartisan solution respect the God-given dignity of every person, protect the unity of the immediate family, respect the rule of law, guarantee secure national borders, ensure fairness to taxpayers and establish a path toward legal status or citizenship.

Immigration policy has been largely ignored since President George W. Bush's proposal for reform died in 2007. Immigration was seldom a topic mentioned from the pulpit during church services leading up to the 2012 election, surveys by the Pew Research Center showed. Abortion and same-sex marriage were more often preached to churchgoers from the minority of pastors who chose to speak about politics.

But the issue has resurfaced as a way for Republicans to rebound from their election performance, in which more than 70 percent of Hispanic voters supported Obama, who has committed to addressing comprehensive immigration reform in 2013.

Popular Comments

Another poor-written article who fails to make a distinction between legal and
illegal immigration. Most people are OK with legal immigration, but disapprove
of illegal immigration. As a legal immigrant, I have always felt welcome.
Illegal aliens are
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1:23 p.m. Nov. 15, 2012

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Third try screen name

Mapleton, UT

We always hear from these citizens of the world, but who speaks for the citizens
of the United States?The Bible's an interesting book. In one verse
it talks about welcoming the stranger. Then a couple of chapters later God
instructs the
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Matt is an enterprise team editor. Before, he wrote about faith how it is lived, how it intersects with society and how current trends affect religious practice. He has worked for more than 12 years as an editor, most more ..